Honeycrisp and Granny Smith Available While much of the apple industry is starting to feel the tightening of a short crop year, Chelan Fresh is looking forward with anticipation. With their strong forecasting program and key Category Management, Chelan Fresh plans to have mainstay varieties like Granny Smith and Honeycrisp apples available throughout the summer months. According to Sales Director Tim Evans, “When you are one of the top producers of Honeycrisp and Granny Smith apples from Washington State, you plan from the start to supply a steady stream of these varieties for top customers and new accounts. We are thrilled [...]

New Apple Varieties Chelan Fresh is your home for the best selection of new apple varieties, grown in the heart of Central Washington where warm days and cool nights make for the best growing conditions. Visit us at PMA Orlando booth #1789 to learn more about all of our new varieties, our comprehensive availability of Cascade Crest Organic apples, pears, stonefruit, and our Category Management programs that are available. SugarBee® is the new apple in town and is sure to steal your heart with her "Sweet as can Bee" flavor! SugarBee® was born from a bee who pollenated a Honeycrisp blossom and an unknown variety and created the crisp, juicy SugarBee® [...]

Freeze n' Store Cherries! Our farmers have worked hard this season to produce a bountiful cherry crop and Chelan Fresh cherries are readily available for at least one more month! The cherries this season are big and sweeter than ever! Now is the time to buy cherries and continue to enjoy them immediately or freeze some for later this fall. Contact your Chelan Fresh sales representative to ensure your cherry program lasts well into August. 509-682-4252. Click here for a few helpful tips on how to freeze and store cherries. Pear Season is Right Around the Corner! Summer is all about cherries, but [...]

Sylvia Klinger pictured above left. Healthy Reasons to Love Cherries Sylvia Klinger, R.D. took the time to visit our Chelan Fresh cherry orchards and write about the health benefits of cherries. We love having a Registered Dietician remind us how healthy cherries are for you. Bounty of nutrients - Cherries are not only beautiful, but they deliver a rush of nutrition – 3 grams of fiber (12% of your daily value) in every serving, as well as vitamin C, potassium and a list of other nutrients such as vitamin K, B vitamins, magnesium and copper. Health benefits - Cherries also provide a number of health [...]

Washington Cherry Season has Arrived! The Washington cherry season is finally here! Chelan Fresh cherries are beginning to land in stores just in time for the start of warm weather activities such as picnics, camping and boating. Our cherry farmers work year-round to ensure bountiful harvests. They nurture their trees throughout the winter and since March they have spent sleepless nights monitoring unpredictable spring weather to ensure that emerging cherry buds stay warm. Nightly monitoring of wind machines that help move the cold air ensures the spring nights do not cause damage to the emerging buds. Once the bloom happens, bees [...]

Leaning in on Honeycrisp The apple category has been challenging this fall - volume and dollars are down across the US. But, if you look closely enough, there are always areas of growth and opportunity. This month we are leaning in on Honeycrisp apples. Crop to date, Honeycrisp are down over 9M lbs. and $19 M in sales vs. last year. The deeper we dig, the more clearly we can start to see the “bright spots” in the market. Individual regions like Houston, Philadelphia and Las Vegas, are driving increases. New package sizes are increasing in demand and creating an opportunity [...]

Cascade Crest Organics Cascade Crest Organics has always stood for quality in the world of Organic Fruit production. And Chelan Fresh is proud to represent the growers who believe that growing fruit using USDA Organic approved standards is a benefit to both the land and the consumers who enjoy the fruit. Columbia Valley Fruit growers believe the same and chose to join our Cascade Crest Organics label to bring our 2017 season offering to over 1 million boxes of 12 varieties of apples, 6 varieties of pears and consumer stone fruit favorites such as organic cherries, plums, pluots and nectarines. By [...]

Better Together Recently several families in the Washington fruit industry decided to join together with one common thread - the idea that by joining families that have been farming for generations - we at Chelan Fresh could be “Better Together”. Beginning September 1st, Borton Fruit and Columbia Valley Fruit will officially join under the Chelan Fresh and Cascade Crest Organic label. It only makes sense that when you combine orchards from the fertile valleys of Yakima with orchards on the gentle mountain slopes of North Central Washington that you will continue to produce some of Washington’s finest fruit. This merger combines families [...]

Promotable Volumes of Cherries Every year in August we wait to see what bounties Mother Nature has to offer us here in the mountains and valleys of Central Washington. This year, large promotable volumes of Cherries are available in August. Our late season cherry crop is peaking on larger, dark burgundy colored fruit that is perfect for consumers enjoying the last few weeks of summer travel, picnics and BBQ’s. Our cherry bags and clam labels give consumers creative ideas for using cherries in pies, smoothies or even freezing cherries to snack on later this fall. Our website offers information on the [...]

Cherry Crop Update It's official: cherry season has arrived! As we speak, produce displays, fruit stands and shopping baskets are filling with yellow, blush and dark crimson cherries just begging to be brought home and devoured. And cherries go with the 4th of July like boats go with water. Company picnics, town celebrations and family camping trips all include bowls or recipes filled with Dark Sweet Cherries, Rainier Cherries and our own proprietary Orondo Ruby™. There are many reasons to eat cherries. They're a good source of vitamin C, fiber and potassium, and are celebrated for being rich in antioxidants. Research has [...]